Alright—gotcha.
If you clicked expecting some hidden schematic or undercover transfer, furgettaboutit! True Jayhawk fans know better. And yes, podcasters… we see your eyes watching!

So does Kansas have a “secret weapon” heading into March Madness?

The answer is absolutely yes—and it’s not just one thing.

College basketball fans across the country are starting to lock in on this Jayhawks team. Why? Because they’re seeing what many of us have sensed all season: this team hasn’t even come close to its ceiling yet!

The Turning Point

Let’s start with where things changed.

After that rough night in Morgantown, the players held a closed-door meeting on January 10. Since then? Six games. Six wins. Zero doubts.

That wasn’t just a meeting—it was a reset. The message was simple: raise the standard. And the response has been undeniable.

Still Climbing

Here’s the scary part for the rest of the country: no honest basketball fan can look at this Kansas roster and say they’ve maxed out. Improvement is still coming—across the board.

The most obvious leap lately? Our post play!

Flory and Bryson are becoming a legitimate inside nightmare. Their chemistry has skyrocketed, especially with their growing comfort passing to each other—often leading to emphatic finishes at the rim. It’s physical. It’s smart. And it’s starting to dictate games.

The Backbone: Tre White

Tre White has been Kansas’ most consistent presence all season. And make no mistake—this isn’t a “good enough” guy. This is a grown man who impacts winning even when his shot isn’t falling.

Rebounding. Hustle. Leadership. Toughness. Finish thru contact.

As the team elevates, Tre’s ceiling rises with it. He’s not staying where he is—he’s going up another level.

The Connection Factor

Darryn and Melvin belong together in this conversation. Not because they need to be glued at the hip—but because their next step is connection.

They’re learning how to move in sync, how to play off each other, and how to stay aggressive without forcing things. And let’s not forget—Darryn logged 37 minutes at Texas Tech. That matters as we move forward!

The Bench Will Matter

Stat sheets won’t tell the full story here, but the tape does.

Jamari has quietly stepped into a meaningful role that many didn’t see coming—and he’s delivered when called upon. Elmarko? The flashes have been loud. When he plays with confidence and energy, his athleticism is absolutely big-league.

Kansas will need more than seven guys as March wears on. Those “blow minutes” will be critical—and the pieces are there.

️ Health Warning ️

If you’re faint of heart, now’s the time to step away.

Because here’s the truth: this team has another gear!

There will be one more players-only meeting before the NCAA Tournament begins. And that conversation won’t be about survival—it’ll be about domination.

DP still has another level. Anyone surprised by that hasn’t been paying attention. His version of “cautious” is still dropping 20+ in a half. When he fully unleashes it, everyone will notice.

And once he does?
Melvin and Flory follow.
Bryson and Tre aren’t far behind.
And whatever you do—don’t sleep on Elmarko! He’s been playing at about 80%, not because he can’t do more, but because the mental switch hasn’t fully flipped yet.

That’s about to change.

Why This Team Is Dangerous

Kansas has the potential to smother teams in March. Defense. Rebounding. Physicality. Depth.

Holding opponents under 30% shooting.
Winning the glass on both ends.
Turning defense into steals and transition points.

When you defend like that, hot or cold shooting nights stop mattering.

No team in the country has this much untapped upside left.

And the best part? You can’t scout “another gear.”

Bill Self will do what he always does—prepare his team the right way. Strong defenders at all five spots. Smart switching. Subtle tweaks. Championship habits.

The rest of the country is just now catching on.

Kansas already knows who we are!

Rock Chalk!

From now on, let's only recruit players that do this! No one is going to convince me this is staged and the guys are only here for a paycheck!

This is quickly becoming one of my favorite all-time Jayhawk teams, and that is regardless of their March performance!

Our athleticism completely dominated this game. It's been years since I've said that! Merry Christmas, everyone!

Come on, guys... there is nothing similar to these guys playing ball and being paid and any form of a regular job. How many of you guys started your career with million dollar annual guarantee?

If you want to connect the dots to all of us and our mundane jobs, you will quickly resent all these players and the first time they screw up you'll go ballistic.

Don't take out your job dissatisfaction on players. I'm saying that as much for you as them. None of us are competing with these players and their jobs.

I'm not saying we shouldn't expect players to be responsible while drawing a check. They should be. And if they fake an injury and don't play... well... maybe that's on the university for not putting in a performance clause.

What I'm talking about in my initial post has nothing to do with players being paid. The pressure at UK basketball... and Alabama football... has been there for decades. Just ask Calipari. I never liked that guy and his revolving door teams... just because I saw this is the direction D1 was headed. If I had to grade Cal as a human being, I think of him differently. I followed him at Kentucky and I seriously doubt there is another coach in college basketball who got more involved in his community and was very generous giving to charities. That's the Cal we never talk about. I typically don't.... because I never liked his basketball style.

We are all living in some type of dystopian universe. We all worked hard and made normal money. These kids come along and it just looks like fun play, and many get paid more in one year of college basketball than most of us make in a long career. Dystopia! But no amount of complaining is going to change that. Or hating on players. Or throwing a fit because a kid missed a free throw while 4 million people watch.

2026 is approaching... and I hope all of you have an arse-kicking year! Make tons of cashola! Heck... hit the friggin' lottery! I'll continue to be an old man slaving away, but I'm happy and happy for others who make 100-times more money than me! Good for them!

I'm pretty much happy for any kids today making big cake because I don't see a great job horizon ahead. College basketball may be something immuned to AI, unless we change the rules and let robots play and operate on AI.

This is a team that needs high-octane fuel to be successful! That means, super high energy, all the time! We have the bench to use, especially if we have DP back!

They have to create havoc to be successful. Otherwise, their defense is nothing special at all, and then they are left to try to just outscore our opponents.

SPOILER ALERT: We may have the best athleticism in D1! I definitely put it at the top! We have speed and good size! We should be able to create huge havoc for all teams we face, and if we can keep that high energy going, it will lead to our opponents committing turnovers, taking bad shots and running stifled offense, and will lead to numerous runouts for us!

I'm okay if we go ahead and win out from here on out... with a different guy having a career night each game. Hmmm.... let's see... who is next? lol

I could be wrong... but it seemed to me that Melvin had his hands outward to defend while he was running to get inbounds and the Colorado guy literally threw the ball into Melvin. I think Melvin was as shocked as anyone that he was hit with the ball.

@kjayhawks2.0

100000%!

But I will warn you... if we have a game where Darryn scores 30 on 10 of 11 from the field, but that last shot was his miss in the final seconds and didn't save the game, like last night's shot did.... those very same critics will be back!

So few people on this earth learn a damn thing in life! Very sad.

This will be a good test. Are we ready to start a new trend of winning on the road? It's one thing to win on a neutral court... and something completely different on their court.

We will have had several days rest and prep for this game, including the mixing of DP in the lineup. Just from the little bits of DP we've seen... he isn't going to be our quarterback. That position clearly goes to Melvin, who creates plenty of action to build his assist numbers. We need DP to score. There is a good article about Mel on kusports and how he has been the mvp of this team so far. I think DP will become that title eventually if he stays healthy because he'll get more pt and will get properly integrated in this team. Still... it will be close between these guys, while Tre does Tre. I said this weeks ago... he is our "silent assassin!" Melvin barks like a dog.. Tre bites! lol

@Jayhawk_69 said in Kansas Jayhawks @ NC State Wolfpack Game Chat Sat. 12/13 4:30 CT:

Reportedly, Bill Self has said that Melvin Council has been "hands down" the MVP of the team so far. Thoughts?

Personally, I like Melvin a lot but I would give the nod to Tre.

I think Tre likes to be the silent assassin. Teams aren't focusing on him with double teams and their prime defender, so he can go get his almost at will. He's the best rebounding guard I think Kansas has ever had. And he's one of the few Jayhawks who understands how to draw fouls in our entire history. I acknowledge Frank and Devonte as being good at this, too... but not like Tre.

Mel is an energy/emotion guy! He turns it up most when receiving praise. And he does deserve plenty of praise!

I still can't get over Fran Fraschilla criticizing this group Self recruited from the portal. He always has to find something wrong with KU.

Okay... I know what you are thinking... drgnslayr is back to hammer down the need for a "chip" moving forward. And, of course, you aren't wrong!

But I'm going to add to my obvious perspective.

We now know we can beat any team in America. We also know we can lose to any team in America. What is the deciding factor? I think most of you now get it. It's all about defense! We shut down Houston, and then besides Tre, no other player had a big offensive night.

Even with Flory in the paint, we are capable of getting pounded in the paint. That still doesn't usually measure up to losing a game. Most of the time, we get beat from the 3s. We are capable of losing, even when our defense isn't too bad on the perimeter.

Last night, I watched the play where Mel took off on a fastbreak at full speed, then he hit the breaks for an almost flat-footed dunk. That gave me an idea, once I meshed what he did with what Houston does constantly... half of their offensive boards are not rebounds as much as they are spiking the ball out to the perimeter.

Have any of you played ball on the perimeter? Do you know how hard it is to focus on netting 3s when you also have to worry about your guy taking off on a fastbreak?

It doesn't seem like we truly utilize the speed Melvin possesses. What if we spiked or tossed him a few touchdown passes for runouts every game? Not only can we pickup some easy baskets... we should make teams think about it throughout the game. I bet we can bring down opposing teams' 3-pt %s considerably, if we play to this strategy. We don't have to use it constantly. But we should keep sending Mel throughout the game so teams think about it.

Self mentioned last night that we are far from reaching the ceiling of this team. Doesn't some of that ceiling involve the potential of using Mel's speed? I'd throw DP's speed in this, too.

And when Flory is out on the perimeter defending? Send him once in a while! He has great speed!

What our guys need to know... sometimes it's smart to charge after a 3-pt shooter like you are going for an aggressive block, when really you are starting to run by him on your way towards a fastbreak!

If you study our defense carefully... you will find that the biggest factor in making us have a great defense is having Flory. It's not just that he swats some balls. It's that he gets into the heads of the teams we play. This was definitely the case against Houston!

Why can't we sometimes run the fastbreak to add one more thing to put in teams' heads? Why won't it work?

Fran constantly pisses me off... but I can't believe this story. Fran is smart enough to realize how risky this would be, especially in modern times where everyone has a video camera in their phone. That would not only get him banned from KU, but also the Big 12 and other work he has.

Even though Fran sometimes says bad remarks in a game, it's okay for us to have a guy like that around. He gives us someone to post about... usually making fun of him.

I used to despise Dickie V. Then when he battled for his life from cancer and survived... I softened my thoughts completely. Then when I discovered how much he is doing to raise awareness and money for cancer, I suddenly became a fan!

It's easy to take things "personal" from these sports commentators, but at the end of the day, they put their pants on just like we do.

So glad to see Flory coming on strong! I just hope he comes back for one more year... because with him next year, we will surely be picked to win it all!

Sorry... I've been AWOL!

I only watched 3 minutes of this game, and I'm glad I missed it.

I just looked at the box score and it feeds right into a thought I've had for quite some time.... it's about Tre.

Tre has been our most consistent player all year and I am very glad we have him, because he usually finds his way to putting up good stats with lots of points and some needed rebounds.

I'm thinking Tre is a guy who always takes advantage of the opportunity to prosper on average defenders. But when the competition toughens up, his production dies.

He scored 2 against ISU, and 4 against UA. And I noticed this same trend in other tough battles.

We really can't afford almost no production from any position. This is worse than Juan.

Concerning DP... it was hard to imagine him doing well in this game. Hostile environment and energetic defense. Coming off the flu. Knocking the rust off his game. And he still isn't integrated into the offense. Until he starts averaging at least 4 apg, I won't be convinced he is integrated. He should be creating even more than that! I've heard all the excuses why he doesn't produce assists and I'm not buying any of them.

His assist line might not be as important to NBA scouts as his points line, but I guarantee you it is important.

At this point in the season, he really can't miss more games if we hope on really capitalizing on using him towards anything near the potential. But since our depth is limited, we can still use him no matter what, but we just can't hope to get a real bump.

I wasn't really expecting we would leave the Hilton with a W, but I was hoping more for a loss similar to what UH just had. To see such a fall off like that doesn't really give me March optimism. But I predicted we would lose a few more then have another team meeting like we did earlier.

We've seen so much recent growth... hope that keeps going because we need more development to be truly competitive in March. I've forgotten completely about competing for the B12 crown.

Yes! As fun as this team can be on offense... it's been their defense that has kept them in games. Flory really stepped up on D after that WVU game. He's one of the top defenders in the country and he really cleaned up his foul trouble.

Self just mentioned how that stats on the bench aren't good, but he does think they come through when we need them.

Alright—gotcha.
If you clicked expecting some hidden schematic or undercover transfer, furgettaboutit! True Jayhawk fans know better. And yes, podcasters… we see your eyes watching!

So does Kansas have a “secret weapon” heading into March Madness?

The answer is absolutely yes—and it’s not just one thing.

College basketball fans across the country are starting to lock in on this Jayhawks team. Why? Because they’re seeing what many of us have sensed all season: this team hasn’t even come close to its ceiling yet!

The Turning Point

Let’s start with where things changed.

After that rough night in Morgantown, the players held a closed-door meeting on January 10. Since then? Six games. Six wins. Zero doubts.

That wasn’t just a meeting—it was a reset. The message was simple: raise the standard. And the response has been undeniable.

Still Climbing

Here’s the scary part for the rest of the country: no honest basketball fan can look at this Kansas roster and say they’ve maxed out. Improvement is still coming—across the board.

The most obvious leap lately? Our post play!

Flory and Bryson are becoming a legitimate inside nightmare. Their chemistry has skyrocketed, especially with their growing comfort passing to each other—often leading to emphatic finishes at the rim. It’s physical. It’s smart. And it’s starting to dictate games.

The Backbone: Tre White

Tre White has been Kansas’ most consistent presence all season. And make no mistake—this isn’t a “good enough” guy. This is a grown man who impacts winning even when his shot isn’t falling.

Rebounding. Hustle. Leadership. Toughness. Finish thru contact.

As the team elevates, Tre’s ceiling rises with it. He’s not staying where he is—he’s going up another level.

The Connection Factor

Darryn and Melvin belong together in this conversation. Not because they need to be glued at the hip—but because their next step is connection.

They’re learning how to move in sync, how to play off each other, and how to stay aggressive without forcing things. And let’s not forget—Darryn logged 37 minutes at Texas Tech. That matters as we move forward!

The Bench Will Matter

Stat sheets won’t tell the full story here, but the tape does.

Jamari has quietly stepped into a meaningful role that many didn’t see coming—and he’s delivered when called upon. Elmarko? The flashes have been loud. When he plays with confidence and energy, his athleticism is absolutely big-league.

Kansas will need more than seven guys as March wears on. Those “blow minutes” will be critical—and the pieces are there.

️ Health Warning ️

If you’re faint of heart, now’s the time to step away.

Because here’s the truth: this team has another gear!

There will be one more players-only meeting before the NCAA Tournament begins. And that conversation won’t be about survival—it’ll be about domination.

DP still has another level. Anyone surprised by that hasn’t been paying attention. His version of “cautious” is still dropping 20+ in a half. When he fully unleashes it, everyone will notice.

And once he does?
Melvin and Flory follow.
Bryson and Tre aren’t far behind.
And whatever you do—don’t sleep on Elmarko! He’s been playing at about 80%, not because he can’t do more, but because the mental switch hasn’t fully flipped yet.

That’s about to change.

Why This Team Is Dangerous

Kansas has the potential to smother teams in March. Defense. Rebounding. Physicality. Depth.

Holding opponents under 30% shooting.
Winning the glass on both ends.
Turning defense into steals and transition points.

When you defend like that, hot or cold shooting nights stop mattering.

No team in the country has this much untapped upside left.

And the best part? You can’t scout “another gear.”

Bill Self will do what he always does—prepare his team the right way. Strong defenders at all five spots. Smart switching. Subtle tweaks. Championship habits.

The rest of the country is just now catching on.

Kansas already knows who we are!

Rock Chalk!

@kjayhawks2.0

100000%!

But I will warn you... if we have a game where Darryn scores 30 on 10 of 11 from the field, but that last shot was his miss in the final seconds and didn't save the game, like last night's shot did.... those very same critics will be back!

So few people on this earth learn a damn thing in life! Very sad.

BTW: If we sign Stokes we are easily preseason #1 next year, and actually deserve it this time! It's absolutely SICK to think of next year when you figure out who we might have coming back from this team. So far, I believe Flory returns... along with Bryson, Elmarko... and maybe we have a 50/50 to get Melvin back (by extending his eligibility)!

If all that happens... this will be the most stacked KU team of all times!

@benshawks08

You could be right.

One other thing... look who is watching all our games now... Tyran Stokes.

It says a lot to a guy like him to know that his coach will protect his interests like a real parent!

I'm still of the belief DP is making the call on his own minutes. I am starting to think of something else.... hear me out.

I've been studying DP's game. I've never seen a college player so perfect on fundamentals. Those fundamentals weren't a God-given talent. He's worked his butt off his whole life to develop DP. But here is the deal... so has a lot of great players, but none reach the pinnacle of fundamental perfection like DP. That tells me he sits in the Top 1% of OCD perfection. Everything has to be perfect for him. So that same high-strung sensitivity he has for the game is also there assessing his second-by-second health bio during games. When he senses even a tiny tightness, or being tired a bit too much, he decides that puts him at a higher-level of injury risk.

If you study him closely, right now, when he's in a game you can tell how well he feels. Sometimes he gives near 100%, while other times he's not nearly as aggressive. He dials in an EXACT level of aggression.

This is what is driving his minutes. Just my humble opinion.